solidskills

Solid Servers — Implementations and Live Instances

Choose, configure, and deploy Solid servers. Covers all major implementations and public pod providers.

Server Implementations

Server	Language	License	Status	Repository
Community Solid Server (CSS)	TypeScript	MIT	Active	github
JavaScriptSolidServer (JSS)	JavaScript	AGPL-3.0	Active	github
Node Solid Server (NSS)	JavaScript	MIT	Maintenance	github
Pivot	TypeScript	MIT	Active	github
Pod-As-App (PAA)	PHP	MIT	Active	github
Enterprise Solid Server (ESS)	Java	Proprietary	Active	Closed source

Quick Start

Community Solid Server (CSS)

npx @solid/community-server

Default: http://localhost:3000

With file-based storage:

npx @solid/community-server -c @css:config/file.json -f ./data

JavaScriptSolidServer (JSS)

npx jss --port 5420

With all protocols:

npx jss --port 5420 --single-user-name alice --activitypub --idp

JSS supports Solid, remoteStorage, ActivityPub, and Solid-OIDC in a single server.

Node Solid Server (NSS)

npx solid-server --port 8443

NSS is the original Solid server. Multi-user with WebID-TLS and WebID-OIDC.

Pivot

Pivot is a community fork of CSS used by solidcommunity.net:

git clone https://github.com/solidcommunity/pivot
cd pivot
npm install
npm start

Live Instances

Public Solid pod providers where users can create accounts:

Provider	URL	Server	Registration
solidcommunity.net	https://solidcommunity.net	Pivot	Open
solidweb.org	https://solidweb.org	NSS	Open
solidweb.me	https://solidweb.me	NSS	Open
solid.social	https://solid.social	NSS	Open
inrupt.net	https://inrupt.net	ESS	Open
use.id	https://use.id	ESS	Open
teamid.live	https://teamid.live	ESS	Open
trinpod.us	https://trinpod.us	Trinpod	Open
redpencil.io	https://solid.redpencil.io	CSS	Open

Feature Comparison

Feature	CSS	JSS	NSS	Pivot	ESS
LDP Containers	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
WebACL (WAC)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗
ACP	✓	✗	✗	✓	✓
Solid-OIDC	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓
WebID-TLS	✗	✗	✓	✗	✗
Content Negotiation	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
PATCH (N3/SPARQL)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Multi-user	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Single-user mode	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗
ActivityPub	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗
remoteStorage	✗	✓	✗	✗	✗
File-based storage	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗
Docker image	✓	✗	✓	✓	✓
npm package	✓	✓	✓	✗	✗

Configuration Patterns

CSS Configuration

CSS uses JSON configuration files to compose components:

# Default in-memory
npx @solid/community-server

# File storage
npx @solid/community-server -c @css:config/file.json -f ./data

# File storage + WAC
npx @solid/community-server -c @css:config/file-wac.json -f ./data

# Custom port
npx @solid/community-server -p 4000

# With mashlib data browser
npm install css-mashlib
npx @solid/community-server -c @css:config/file.json -f ./data

JSS Configuration

JSS uses CLI flags:

# Basic
npx jss --port 5420

# Single-user with identity provider
npx jss --port 5420 --single-user-name alice --idp

# Full multi-protocol
npx jss --port 5420 --single-user-name alice --activitypub --idp

# Custom data directory
npx jss --port 5420 --data ./pods

NSS Configuration

NSS uses a config file or CLI flags:

# Basic
npx solid-server --port 8443

# With config file
npx solid-server --config ./config.json

# Multi-user
npx solid-server --port 8443 --multiuser

Production Deployment

With PM2

npm install -g pm2

# CSS
pm2 start npx --name solid -- @solid/community-server -c @css:config/file.json -f ./data

# JSS
pm2 start npx --name jss -- jss --port 5420 --single-user-name alice --idp

With Docker (CSS)

docker run --rm -p 3000:3000 -v ./data:/data \
  solidproject/community-server -c @css:config/file.json -f /data

Reverse Proxy (nginx)

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name pod.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/pod.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/pod.example.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

WebID Discovery

Given a WebID, find which server hosts it:

GET /profile/card HTTP/1.1
Host: alice.pod.example
Accept: application/ld+json

Check the Link header:

Link: <https://alice.pod.example/>; rel="http://www.w3.org/ns/pim/space#storage"

The Server response header often identifies the implementation:

Header Value	Server
CommunitySolidServer	CSS
JSS	JSS
solid-server or node-solid-server	NSS

Specifications

• Solid Protocol — W3C Solid CG
• Solid-OIDC — W3C Solid CG
• Web Access Control — W3C Solid CG
• Linked Data Platform — W3C Recommendation

License

AGPL-3.0

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